SLINGBLADE - The Unpredicted Deeds Of Molly Black (CD)
Sweden | Heavy
Detailed Description
Slingblade from Stockholm released their debut 7" single on High Roller Records in 2010. Now it's time for their first lonplayer with the interesting title of "The unexpected Deeds of Molly Black". Kristina Karlsson is quite satisfied with how the 7" single was judged by the public: "As it was the first release from the band, it received some attention that was all good actually. We had some great reviews and I think that in combination with playing the Muskelrock festival the same year gave us a lot of new fans. Somebody told us we had sold a lot of copies of the single in _land in the Finnish archipelago. We don_t know why but it is a nice mystery! I think the songs on the single are really good, especially the A-side. It was also great that High Roller Records released it in two designs, a standard, black vinyl and a black/white splatter vinyl." According to the band's female vocalist, Slingblade's musical approach has not changed that much on the album: "No it hasn't, but the songwriting process has been focusing on creating an album with a wide range of songs. With ten songs instead of two you can show a greater variety in the music. There's much more room to show the fans what the band really is like when recording a full-length album than a two-song single." Kristina gives us some more details about "The unexpected Deeds of Molly Black": "It is a ten song conceptual album, meaning all songs are part of a story. We wanted to grab the feeling of old King Diamond albums, where you have these epic stories as a framework for the songs. I thought having a concept would make the lyric writing process easier but it was a challenge to keep the storyline together." Guitarist Johan Berg adds: "Nevertheless the music should not be compared with King Diamond, but the feeling is absolutely there."
Of course Molly Black makes an appearance on the album cover but is she really
a fictional character Slingblade invented? Or is there some kind of historic background? Kristina answers: "Molly Black was a priest's daughter that after being abused and bullied in school totally flips and starts murdering her classmates. We have been in contact with her doomed soul and she has let us write about her horrifying fate_" Johan adds: "In the early 1980's there was a girl living in the dark forests of northern Sweden, a daughter of a priest. After being abused and bullied in school she flipped and killed all her classmates, then she suffered a tragic death. After a few years her father found her diary, the writing was terrifying and he soon burned it. But he told a close friend and church member bits and pieces of what his daughter had written. He told him that his daughter wrote about all the abuse she had to put up with. But after a while she stopped and only wrote down the day and date. Eventually she didn_t even write that, but only one sentence, page up and down 'I walk with the demon'. Her father was in despair and soon after that he ended his life." An interesting story indeed _
With Kristina Karlsson being the leading voice in Slingblade and the band playing traditional Heavy Metal, it is probably almost inevitable that they get compared to N.W.O.B.H.M. legends like Girlschool, Rock Goddess or (to a lesser extent) Canis Major. Kristina is not quite sure what to make of those comparisms: "Well, this is a complex question that we could _ First of all _ I don_t think everybody is making that comparison, but I think it is more common in places where a gender mixed line-up is very rare. Secondly, I think this comparison is done by people who are unable or too lazy to actually hear the musical difference between bands. I mean _ compare the music and the sound of Girlschool, Rock Goddess, Warlock and ourselves etc ... In my ears they do not sound the same at all. And if they do have any musical similarities, it is not because the singer is female. Blessing or curse _ neither I would say, if the comparison is relevant it doesn_t matter if you are compared to a male or female-fronted band. And that should go for the other way round too!" Unmistakeable words!
As already mentioned, Slingblade are from Stockholm, a city currently buzzing with good new bands. Kristina gives her view from the inside: "The current scene for Hardrock/Metal has expanded a bit over the last few years I think. From almost only showing Sleaze-style Hardrock bands with M_tley Cr_e-wannabees, there are now bands playing more traditional Heavy Metal. And of course we have all the Death/Black/Thrash Metal bands as well. I think for Heavy Metal bands looking to release their music on High Roller Records, it is considered a 'true' Metal label with high quality releases."
